#Calico mine ride full

Shawn McCoy, Executive Vice President, JRA – Part of RWS Entertainment Group: Why St.For more information about Knott's Berry Farm, please visit our Knott's Berry Farm review page, which has a link to discounted tickets. Today it remains, along with the Calico Mine Ride and so many other imaginative shows and rides, a memorable and inspirational benchmark in my development as a theme attraction designer.ĭrew Edward Hunter is the Vice President Creative Design for Sally Dark Rides.

I described to my friends and school mates every detail. When I arrived home after the vacation, the Mystery Island ride was all I could talk about. It was all a simple illusion and we laughed after the “danger” was over. We thought we were going to fall out of the train. I remember my dad holding on to me during the rotating tunnel earthquake where vertigo took control. We traveled through a jungle at the end of the amusement pier, up the side of a volcano, then into a cavern in the volcano where we saw boiling lava, experienced an earthquake, rode through the volcano’s crater, weathered a tropical storm and finally encountered a great Gooney Bird which was hatching from an egg in a huge nest. On vacation in southern California in 1958 my dad took me to the just-opened Pacific Ocean Park where we rode the Mystery Island banana train. I will add that there was another non-Disney or Universal ride which is lost, but had an equally significant impact on me. It was all fake – even the miners! - but I was amazed by the excellence of the fakery. I was thrilled with not only the adventure, but the fact that it was all such a calculated and designed theatrical experience. And now, here I was, seated in a rickety old mine car being pulled by a locomotive through dangerous tunnels, beautiful caverns and a gigantic working mine. Not an hour before I had been in a car speeding down a California freeway headed to Knott’s. But to my ten-year-old eyes and senses, it was absolutely breathtaking. Sure, compared to many of today’s dark ride attractions, the Calico Mine Ride is a passive, leisurely experience.

#Calico mine ride full

So as my parents and I approached the new Knott’s ride that summer day, I was full of anticipation of a great adventure to come. Toad, Peter Pan, Alice In Wonderland and Submarine Voyage attractions. I had visited Disneyland several times by then and had already fallen in love with the Snow White, Mr. I experienced the slow train excursion deep inside the rugged western mountain in 1960 - its first year of operation - while on a family vacation in southern California. One which happily remains - still a favorite among guests at Knott’s Berry Farm - is the Calico Mine Ride.